The Butler weekly times., 1887-02-09
LAST OF THEIR RACE.
Ins Smithsonian Institution Secures q Few
Specimens of Buffalo,

mist OF the National Museum at Wash
ington, has returned from an extended
buffalo hunt in Montana. He is . nat
uralist of considerable note and is the
author OF Two Years in the Jungle"
published by Scribners, which graphi-
cally describes his adventures while
making extensive collections of tigers,
elephants, gavials, etc. in India and
orang-outangs in Borneo. Mr.. Horna-
days mission in Montana has been to
secure a complete series of specimens of
the buffalo for the National collections,
and 1t has taken him two months to ac-
complish his work.
'.Tne buffalo," said Mr.. Hornaday.
"has been swept off from our Western
plains IN a remarkably short time
Where once vast herds OF bison roame6
through the whole country between the
| Saskatchewan and Southern Texas and
buf1alo-hmting was comparatively
tame spost there are now but a few
hundreds Of the noble animals left, and
they are Is shy and wild as deer. In
1888 the last great herd that has been
seen went into the British Possessions
and seems to have disappeared entirely.
In Texas there are now not more than q
hundred buffalo, while in the Yellow
stone divide east Of Miles City, Mont,
where We hunted, there are not more
than sixty. In the Yellowstone Park
preserves there are perhaps q hundred
and fifty which cannot be killed. while
we were unable to learn of q single one
in the British Possessions The divide
L ho%xr - kk> Ill
aud the Missouri contains about 1000
square miles. and some of it is about
the rough.st, widest, and poorest coun-
try IN America. The soil is so friabie
that small streams of water make deep
gullies, OF coolies" as they are called,
which, when covered with snow. are
very deceptive and dangerous to horse
| men.
1--WE hunted this whole tract of coun-
try over With the utmost perseverance
for two months, and the net result OF
our hunt is twenty-five SKINS sixteen
| skeletons and fifty skulls for tho Ma
tional Collections. Tho success OF the
| expedition was exceedingly problemati-
| cal from the start, as the species is SC
nearly extinct Iconfess, however. that
Iwas pntty we'll discouraged when
, reached Niles City and talked with th.
old settlss and the cowboya Why,
stranger, said one veteran buffalo
hunter, " haven't seed . buffalo in
these her parts for three years Bet
were freey offered in my presence tha
our part wouldn't secure . singl,
buffalo, I'D there were no takers. How
| ever, We secured three cowboys. tws
| soldiers, ,ne Of whom acted ~ our cook
\ | ten horss, and four mule teams, ant
left for he divide, whore every on
] agreed buffalo would be found II any
where. II q mouths time We hat
;. | secured tel specimens and were livinI
on buffalo meat It was hard work
though, to find tho bison. and still
harder wok to catch and kill then
when found. We gave ourselves n
rest, as l lnew it WAS tho last chanc
at spccimns. Az q result the Smith
sonian nov has tho finest series G
buffalo specimens, Of all sizes, ages, an
sexes, thatexists anywhere.
"Valuabep Yes. suppose the serie!
, which it cot us $1,000 to get could nc
be duplicated for less than IS, 600 {
!. $1,000. in ten or fifteen years, whe
the race las become entirely extinc
those skins will be worth more tha
their weight in gold. We were just
> the nick oftime to secure them. Ne.
year would have been eternally tc
late. Indeed. the Montana cOwbo
:, universally allowed that ours was I'll
lurkiest outfit that had come into II
territory"
. MIR. Hornaday was very pronounc,
in his opinion of the Indians and Il
i way they are supported in ideness
J the government. Why" said b
: / "they are athieving. lying set of loafe
/ who ought to be made to earn the
Il living. We had one painful exDerien
Il with u wandering banG OF ASSN! boin
which cost US han. svnhe skcieto
| One of our cowboys had sighted ii
III old bull, and after hard chase
fifteen miles had brought him to gra
1t was long distance from camp a
the hour was late. so he dressed t
buffalo and left it until we could col
and get 1t in the morning. When
came upon the ground we found tt
the Indians had carried off the skin
meat and hd mutilated The skelet'
The head they could not take. 80. da,
ing it with rsd and yellow war-pai
Ill they tied = red rag of bod defiance
one of the hons"